Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans tumbled below $15 a bushel
in Chicago for the first time since July as investors reduced
bets on a price advance amid signs of slowing demand for U.S.
exports. Corn and wheat also declined.

Soybeans for delivery in November lost as much as 2.3
percent to $14.8675 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the
lowest price for the most-active contract since July 3. The
price was $14.94 by 1:19 p.m. London time, down from a record
$17.89 on Sept. 4.

Speculators cut their net-long positions on soybean futures
and options for a fifth straight week to the smallest since
March, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.
Export sales of U.S. soybeans for delivery this marketing year
plunged 61 percent in the week to Oct. 4 from the previous week,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Oct. 12.

“We’re seeing a net withdrawal of the funds from the
commodity markets in the context of uncertainty about the
economy,” Paris-based farm adviser Agritel wrote in a comment.
“Uncertainty continues to dominate the market, divided between
fundamentals that call for price tension, and on the other hand
a drop in demand linked to the economic crisis.”

Bets on higher soybean futures and options outnumbered
wagers on a drop by 176,907 contracts in the week to Oct. 9,
down 1 percent from a week earlier, CFTC data showed. That’s
before the USDA on Oct. 11 raised its estimate for world soybean
stocks before the 2013 Northern Hemisphere harvest by 8.4
percent to 57.56 million metric tons from a month ago.

“They’re just taking a little bit of money off the
table,” Michael Pitts, a commodity sales director at National
Australia Bank Ltd., said from Sydney. “The market has had a
large move already. They’re certainly still quite long beans.”

Rapeseed for November delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in
Paris fell 1.1 percent to 469.25 euros ($608.50) a ton.

Corn for December delivery fell as much as 1.8 percent to
$7.39 a bushel in Chicago before trading at $7.4075, while wheat
for delivery in the same month lost 1.1 percent to $8.4775 a
bushel.

Milling wheat for November delivery traded in the French
capital slipped 0.7 percent to 257 euros a ton.